I finished my BSc hons on Antechinus at ANU in 1969 and found work as an Experimental Officer with Division of Wildlife & Ecology, CSIRO (then known as Division of Wildlife Research, now known as Sustainable Ecosystems), where I studied the ecology of water rats and the effect of predation on feral mouse populations. In 1981 I took a few years off to raise my two kids, but carried on research on birds of prey. A mid-life crisis sent me back to uni to do a PhD on the breeding ecology of raptors, which I completed in 1991. Since then I've been fortunate to win an ARC post-doc to study sex allocation in peregrine falcons, which led me to research on lifetime reproduction, for which I was granted an ARC Fellowship. Since 1999 I have been a consultant to various government departments and a visiting Fellow at ANU. I also write books and work as Editor of the Birds Australia quarterly magazine, Wingspan.

Although much of my research career has focused on Peregrine Falcons, I am interested in almost anything concerned with birds of prey, both diurnal and nocturnal, or indeed with birds in general. Conservation biology is also a strong interest, which I indulge by my involvement in a long-term program to re-establish a population of owls on Norfolk Island, from the one individual female Norfolk Island Boobook that remained in 1986.

Species of Interest:

Wedge-tailed Eagle

Brown Goshawk

Grey Goshawk

Red Goshawk

White-bellied Sea-eagle

Australian Kestrel

Grey Falcon

Brown Falcon

Peregrine Falcon

Publications

Aumann, T., N.J. Mooney, and P.D. Olsen 1989. The legal status of birds of prey in Australia. Pp. 591-596 in B.-U. Meyburg and R.D. Chancellor (eds.), Raptors in the modern world: proceedings of the III World Conference on Birds of Prey and Owls, Eilat, Israel, 22-27 March, 1987. World Working Group on BIrds of Prey, Berlin.

Burton, A., and P. Olsen 1996. (Abstract) Resource partitioning by two sympatric accipiters in Australia's wet tropics. Program of the 114th Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union and 1996 Annual Meeting of the Raptor Research Foundation. Raptor Research Foundation, Boise, ID.

Burton, A.M., and P. Olsen. 1997. A note on inter- and intraspecific differences in the diets of sympatric Brown Goshawks and Grey Goshawks during the non-breeding season. Australian Bird Watcher 17:138-141.

Burton, A.M., and P. Olsen 1997. A note on the hunting behaviour of two sympatric goshawks in the Australian wet tropics. Australian Bird Watcher 17:126-129.

Burton, A.M., and P. Olsen. 1997. Niche partitioning by two sympatric goshawks in the Australian wet tropics: breeding season diet. Wildlife Research 24:45-52.

Olsen, J., and P. Olsen. 1985. Captive breeding of Australian raptors. PP. 431-432 in I. Newton and R.D. Chancellor (eds.), Conservation studies on raptors: proceedings of the ICBP World Conference on Birds of Prey. International Council for Bird Preservation, Cambridge, England.

Olsen, J., P. Olsen, and J. Jolly. 1979. Observation on interspecific conflict in the Peregrine Falco peregrinus and other Australian falcons. Australian Bird Watcher 8:51-57.

Olsen, P.D. 1982. Ecogeographical and temporal variation in the eggs and nests of the Peregrine, Falco peregrinus (Aves, Falconidae) in Australia. Australian Wildlife Research 9:277-291.

Olsen, P. 1985. Population studies of the Peregrine in Australia. Pp. 381-388 in I. Newton, and R.D. Chancellor (eds.), Conservation studies on raptors: proceedings of the ICBP World Conference on Birds of Prey. International Council for Bird Preservation, Cambridge, UK.

Olsen, P. 1998. Australian birds of prey. University of New South Wales Press, Sydney, and John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.

Olsen, P.D., and T.G. Marples. 1992. Alteration of the clutch size of raptors in response to a change in prey availability: evidence from control of a broad-scale rabbit infestation. Wildlife Research 19:129-135.

Olsen, P., and J. Olsen. 1980. Observations on development, nesting chronology, and clutch and brood size in the Australian Kestrel, Falco cenchroides (Aves: Falconidae). Australian Wildlife Research 7:247-255.

Olsen, P.D., and J. Olsen. 1985. A natural hybridization of the Brown Goshawk Accipiter fasciatus and Grey Goshawk Accipiter novaehollandiae in Australia, and a comparison of the two species. Emu 85:250-257.

Olsen, P., and J. Olsen. 1985. Preliminary report on changes in egg-shell thickness in Australian Falco species. Pp. 389-392 in I. Newton, and R.D. Chancellor (eds.), Conservation studies on raptors: proceedings of the ICBP World Conference on Birds of Prey. International Council for Bird Preservation, Cambridge, UK.